This property near Gloucester, Va., may be the site of Pocahontas' 17th century village. The Virginian-Pilot photo by John H. Sheally II via Associated Press

This property near Gloucester, Va., may be the site of Pocahontas' 17th century village. The Virginian-Pilot photo by John H. Sheally II via Associated Press

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Archaeologists believe they've found village of Pocahontas / Indian artifacts unearthed at fabled chiefdom

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In American folk history, the Indian princess Pocahontas befriended English settlers and saved Capt. John Smith from certain death at the hands of his Algonquin captors. It happened near the Jamestown colony in Virginia, within a year of its founding in 1607. Or it may be only a story.

But Pocahontas really was a princess, daughter of the powerful Powhatan, whose chiefdom encompassed much of coastal Virginia. She got along so well with the English that she eventually married one of them, John Rolfe, and was received at the court of James I.

Now, Virginia archaeologists think they have found the site of the large village, Werowocomoco, where Pocahontas and Powhatan lived in the early 17th century. As the seat of the paramount chief of the region, it was the most prominent village in coastal Virginia. Scholars hope the remains will provide clues to understanding one of the most advanced chiefdoms in eastern North America.

The archaeologists announced at a news conference in Gloucester, Va., on Tuesday that they had uncovered a significant distribution of Indian pottery and projectile points, along with English glass beads and metal objects, on a farm on the banks of the York River, near Chesapeake Bay. It is about 12 miles from Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

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The site, experts said, fit English descriptions of the topography around Powhatan's central village. Its location corresponded to the village's as given on contemporary maps, including Smith's own 1612 map of Virginia.

Dr. E. Randolph Turner III, an archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, said that recent excavations at the site provided "convincing evidence that we have indeed found the village."

Martin Gallivan, an archaeologist at the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg, was a little more cautious. In a telephone interview, he said, "We're reasonably certain we are in the right place."

Other archaeologists agreed tentatively but reserved judgment until more comprehensive excavations were conducted at the site. Such a project is to begin this summer under the direction of Gallivan, Turner and others, including representatives of Indian communities.

The excavations began after the owners of the land in Gloucester County, Bob and Lynn Ripley, began finding pieces of pottery and arrowheads scattered on or near the surface of their plowed fields. They alerted local archaeologists, who followed up with more systematic surveys over a site now estimated to be at least 35 acres. They dug test pits at close intervals over the entire site.

The blue glass beads that excavators found were in the style of 17th century English goods. In the first harsh winter of the Jamestown colony, Smith, its leader, reported trading such beads to the Indians in return for much-needed corn.

One important objective of this summer's research will be to find some evidence of structures that stood in the village. Powhatan's people were known to live in wigwams made of saplings.

Gallivan said the focus of research would be on Powhatan and his capital village of Werowocomoco, not his daughter Pocahontas. No one expects to learn the truth of the John Smith story.

As the captain laid his head on a sacrificial stone, all hope gone, Pocahontas supposedly rushed in and gave his head a protective embrace. She begged her father to spare him, which he did. Many historians doubt that this happened. Smith himself never mentioned it in his writings until 1624.

In 1616, after her marriage to Rolfe, Pocahontas and her husband visited England. Just before she was to sail for home, the Indian princess contracted smallpox and died.